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Avoidance of smoking most important factor in dealing with lung cancer: Austrian experts

Xinhua, February 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

The most important measure for a lasting reduction in the mortality rate of lung cancer still lies in smoking prevention, Austrian experts said Monday.

In a press release in light of World Cancer Day on Thursday, experts from the Austrian Society of Pneumology (OeGP) said lung cancer is the second-most common form of cancer among Austrian men and the third-most common in women, and the greatest cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide.

Unlike other cancer varieties that respond more favourably to modern treatments such as chemotherapy and personalized therapies and are also expected to be better-treatable via the present development of immunotherapy treatments, no particularly improved outcomes are expected for the treatment of advanced forms of lung cancer in the near future.

"The big problem with lung cancer is still that 50 percent of the cancers are diagnosed once they are already in an incurable state," the OeGP said.

Lung cancer expert Dr. Klaus Kirchbacher from the Wilhelminenspital hospital in Vienna said the condition had previously been treated via chemotherapy, that could reduce the tumor burden in 30 to 40 percent of cases, and stabilize the disease in a further 40 percent of persons. Despite this, only 30 to 40 percent of patients lived a year past their initial diagnosis.

From about 2010 onwards there has been a shift toward more personalized therapies, he said, and while an improved response rate has been observed compared to chemotherapy treatment, only about 15 percent of people with advanced forms of lung cancer are suited to such a treatment.

Most notable is also that the majority of these people have never smoked, Kirchbacher said.

His hospital colleague and fellow expert Dr. Meinhard Kneussl said the "most sensible and effective measure" to reduce the mortality rate, the avoidance of smoking, is not stressed enough.

He said about 80 percent of lung cancer cases are connected to the habit, and added that it is never too late to quit smoking and thereby reduce the risk of cancer. Endit